Kids & sleep walking/talking!

[uwho]

My DD (she is 6 and a 1/2) had her 1st ever episode of sleep walking.....it was very freaky to me to witness:((

It was confusing to me cause i wasnt sure what was happeneing. <i felt like crying with my own fear as i tried to figure out what to do>

She started out comming into my room, saying she has to go to her freinds house (right next door). then she got panicy and was talking extremly loud and asking for her friends to come over so she could win the race, then next second she was yelling in a panicy voice she has to go pee,,,,I helped her pee, and as she was going to the washroom, she started to scan the room with her eyes, extrenly fast, <as if she was watching a people run>, then she finished her buisness and I picked her up and held her head in my hands and asked her to tell me what the race was about...all she was saying was she had to win the race and win the trophie........???? I then took her into my bed and cuddled her and said to her that we would practice running after school, and poof, she was out and went back to sleep.


WOW.........took me a long time to fall asleep as i was and still am worried ,

have other parents gone through this?what did you do, what can i do? I have never known anyone to have gone through this, so it is so new too me.....am i worried over something that she may outgrow?

thanks for your support and input!!

[Catz]

My kids talk in their sleep, but that is all. I talk, walk and snore, and grind my teeth. Nice combo.
I will wake myself up talking, and when I wake up and find myself in a different room it is scarey because you have no idea how you got there. Sounds like you did the right thing. You might want to put a little bell on the top of the door so if she gets up you will know. Maybe a good thing for her, too ,to know you will be aware if she gets up. I believe most kids grow out of it. Not sure if that helped?

[oneh2obabe]

Sounds like your daughter is experiencing night terrors - don't worry, it's not bad. My youngest went through them for about a year - would get out of bed, play basketball in his room or come upstairs, sit down and watch TV or sit there and carry on a conversation with you for an hour or so and he was asleep the whole time. I'd tell him it was time to go to bed and he'd get up and head to his bedroom - I'd be following him to make sure he didn't fall down the stairs. And the kicker - he didn't remember a thing the next morning.

Checked with our family doc and he said it was nothing to worry about as he'd outgrow them and some kids could experience periods of terror, some don't. Also said never wake them up during an episode.

http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/sleep/a/ ... errors.htm
http://www.nightterrors.org/

[mechanic_virus]

I don't have any children, but both my brother and I were known to sleep-walk as children. I've heard stories about my brother even showing up next door at my elderly neighbours' place at 2am (he'd drag a stool up to reach the deadbolt on our front door). I guess just leading us back to bed did the trick.

[Jo]

I was a sleepwalker, spent many nights sleep-talking with my mum. My mum was a sleepwalker as well. One of the better family stories is about the time she, as a child, left the house, hopped on a bike, rode a few blocks and rode it into the lake. The cold water woke her up, lol. Here's the funny part, though. In awake-mode she couldn't ride a bike worth a damn.

[AlanH]

I was a sleepwalker, spent many nights sleep-talking with my mum. My mum was a sleepwalker as well. One of the better family stories is about the time she, as a child, left the house, hopped on a bike, rode a few blocks and rode it into the lake. The cold water woke her up, lol. Here's the funny part, though. In awake-mode she couldn't ride a bike worth a damn.

Riding a bike into the lake is proof positive that she could not ride a bike worth a darn while sleeping either.... although I would be impressed at the feat. Funny story Jo..

[Jo]

Riding a bike into the lake is proof positive that she could not ride a bike worth a darn while sleeping either.... although I would be impressed at the feat. Funny story Jo..

I'm guessing it must have been the ultimate 'rude awakening' for her.

One thing for sure, there aren't many locks that will keep a sleepwalker inside if they happen to want to get outside. In my early 20s I had a bout, it was on a scorcher of a night in San Diego. I ran for the door and my husband caught me just in time to save me from becoming the neighbourhood streaker.

Luckily most people more or less outgrow sleepwalking at a relatively early age!

[grammafreddy]

Can be a very concerning thing ...

My brother used to have a friend who kept turning up in our bathtub in the morning. He would sleepwalk from his home to ours, and bed down in our tub. His family would lock their door, but he could get out ... through his bedroom window.

The kicker? Their house was MILES away from ours!

[fvkasm2x]

Depends on what kind parent you are, and how high your "worry level" is.

I used to sleepwalk when I was a kid. My dad heard a noise one night and got up to investigate. At around 3am I had decided to pack my bags for school. My bag was a suitcase, and it had a bunch of kitchen items in it for some reasno, and it was all laid out by the door.

Another time I freaked my parents out by removing the vacuum from the closet and making my bed on the first racking, then actually trying to sleep in the closet.

Funny as hell now,but I suppose I could have actually gone outside.

There are also cases of fully grown adults driving cars while asleep, and one such case I studied in school, where a guy drove for MILES and killed his in-laws. Got off because he was asleep.

Sorry if that adds to the worry.

Chances are, its a phase and they will outgrow it. Small possibility, they could harm themselves are others. Do what you feel is safer for all.

[SpazmoTheMagnificent]

My DD (she is 6 and a 1/2) had her 1st ever episode of sleep walking.....it was very freaky to me to witness:((

It was confusing to me cause i wasnt sure what was happeneing. <i felt like crying with my own fear as i tried to figure out what to do>

She started out comming into my room, saying she has to go to her freinds house (right next door). then she got panicy and was talking extremly loud and asking for her friends to come over so she could win the race, then next second she was yelling in a panicy voice she has to go pee,,,,I helped her pee, and as she was going to the washroom, she started to scan the room with her eyes, extrenly fast, <as if she was watching a people run>, then she finished her buisness and I picked her up and held her head in my hands and asked her to tell me what the race was about...all she was saying was she had to win the race and win the trophie........???? I then took her into my bed and cuddled her and said to her that we would practice running after school, and poof, she was out and went back to sleep.


WOW.........took me a long time to fall asleep as i was and still am worried ,

have other parents gone through this?what did you do, what can i do? I have never known anyone to have gone through this, so it is so new too me.....am i worried over something that she may outgrow?

thanks for your support and input!!

Are you not the poster that started a thread about your child last week, whom is hard to get motivated in the AM...and stated that she did not have a sleep disorder because she slept for a normal amount of time?
Well guess what...your daughter has a sleep disorder...and it is one that causes excessive daytime sleepiness in children.
Anyway...she has a disorder we call NREM Motor Parasomnia or Somnabulism...either of which name you can search for on the net.
These parasomnias generally occur in childhood, and are usually outgrown, but not always. If a child has ambulation out of bed, we call this Agrivated Somnabulism, because the actions while asleep, can be agrivated and potentially dangerous. eg. Often people crash thru windows to escape whatever dream mentation is occuring...Besides the obvious injury caused by glass, if not on the ground floor...catastrophic injury often occurs.
If she is not on the ground floor of your house, relocate her there...also put heavy curtains over the window, this can aid in reduced injury. Also, an alarm on her bedroom door, can alert you to when she is moving out of her room. Knowing that she is sleep walking helps you to aid her in getting back to bed. You often can tell someone sleepwalking to go back to bed, and they will. Also, ask her if she has to go to the washroom, and direct here there. Often children urinate in closets or smaller rooms which resemble a washroom. Again you can direct her to the washroom, and back to bed with suggestion...often instruction is followed. However, if agrivated or aggitated in nature, it is often wiser to wake the child. As the brain frequency is slower during these ambulations, it may take several minutes for your child to fully wake...and during this time a sleep walker can injure the one who wakes them, so watch yourself. The goal is to keep her safe while her brain slowly increases activity to wake frequencies.
Markers for Somnabulism occur every night in Slow Wave Sleep, which predominates in the first third of sleep, however can occur anytime during the night. Sleepwalking per say can occur each night, but usually only once or twice a week. During Slow Wave Sleep, the brain in transition to other stages of sleep, can derail itself, and allow movement in response to dream mentation...usually there is complete atonia (paralysis) during this time of sleep which prevents movement out of bed (sleepwalking) However during childhood development, this atonia can be derailed when Slow Wave Sleep and another stage, combine...the result is sleepwalking. As the marker for this occurs frequently, each night, the arousals or fragmentation of sleep can lead to daytime sleepiness, despite having slept for 10 hours or longer.
Should you worry...yes.
Should you seek professional help...yes...specifically if your child sleepwalks, and is aggitated or alarmed in voice or action while this is occuring.
Good luck.

[uwho]

wow.......that last post was intense.

yes that was me making a post about motivation. She does not have EXCESSIVE amounts of sleepiness during the day however; it is only in the morning when 1st getting her out of bed that was the issue. She is fine once we are out the door and on our way to daycare and on with the day

I also have app. mon morn with family dr to discuss all this, thanks.

Now, my daughter has never had ANY type of sleep disturbances before 2 days ago.
she has talked or mummbled things in her sleep often. but NEVER had any other issues except early morning getting outa bed.

Perhaps you are correct in assuming her sleep distorder, or at least drawing this to my attention, and thanks, that is why i posted my concerns on this site, as well as made a DR app.

My daughter has been pretty sleepy the last few days from from the 2 nights of night terrors ...and did not eat much the last 2 days either. However, about 1.5 hrs onto her sleep last night, i purposly woke her up, gave her some water, and talked with her for a min or so....and she did NOT have a night terror. Her day was much better, her appitite back, and her personality is again, back to normal and a typical child of 6 with lots of energy and spunk:)

I will again wake her up tonight as suggested in a site I found from google...and i shall do the same on sund. night until i see DR mon morn.

I know something is differnet with my daughter in the last few days, adn I shall find answers to help ehr anyway i can. and thanks for the words of wisdom and sharing some of the experiences from otheres.

[SpazmoTheMagnificent]

wow.......that last post was intense.

yes that was me making a post about motivation. She does not have EXCESSIVE amounts of sleepiness during the day however; it is only in the morning when 1st getting her out of bed that was the issue. She is fine once we are out the door and on our way to daycare and on with the day

I also have app. mon morn with family dr to discuss all this, thanks.

Now, my daughter has never had ANY type of sleep disturbances before 2 days ago.
she has talked or mummbled things in her sleep often. but NEVER had any other issues except early morning getting outa bed.

Perhaps you are correct in assuming her sleep distorder, or at least drawing this to my attention, and thanks, that is why i posted my concerns on this site, as well as made a DR app.

My daughter has been pretty sleepy the last few days from from the 2 nights of night terrors ...and did not eat much the last 2 days either. However, about 1.5 hrs onto her sleep last night, i purposly woke her up, gave her some water, and talked with her for a min or so....and she did NOT have a night terror. Her day was much better, her appitite back, and her personality is again, back to normal and a typical child of 6 with lots of energy and spunk:)

I will again wake her up tonight as suggested in a site I found from google...and i shall do the same on sund. night until i see DR mon morn.

I know something is differnet with my daughter in the last few days, adn I shall find answers to help ehr anyway i can. and thanks for the words of wisdom and sharing some of the experiences from otheres.

These are NOT night terrors. Night terrors are different. What you originally described is sleepwalking or its correct name Somnambulism, or Clinical name NREM Motor Parasomnia.

Night terrors are NOT associated with movement out of bed. Each night terror episode lasts typically only 1-5 minutes and is puncuated by screaming or yelling where the person is unconsolible and does NOT respond to outside stimili or people trying to help them. They just continue to yell and scream until there brain frequency converts to wake frequencies. There are generally other not very nice pathologies involved that trigger night terrors. This is hard to diagnose as differential for this disorder can sometimes mimic run of the mill nightmares, which are generally benign.

The symptoms you descibe above are classic and unmistakable for sleepwalking.
Waking a child up while sleeping is a poor idea. It does not prevent your child from sleepwalking. All it does is detract from the quality of her sleep. Your childs brain is developing and during this stage of development sleepwalkers have bursts of Hypersychronus Delta and Theata sleep. If these coincide with deeper Slow Wave sleep, sleepwalking or varriant can occur. Waking her will not prevent any of this from happening. As soon as she gets back to sleep, the same brain patterns continue...and so does the possibility of sleepwalking.

Now waking someone with night terrors IS suggested, but only after the night terror has begun. Longer periods of this type of confusional arousal, can be avoided by tactile response, or touching, hugging the child. In other words, while the yelling is going on, hugging the child has been shown to decrease the length of the night terror.

Again, your child does NOT have night terrors, she has classic symptoms of sleepwalking...so waking her has zero benifit.

When I suggested to seek professional help, I ment a sleep specialist...GP's are woefully uneducated about sleep issues. You will likely get the response of "she will grow out of this".
When you do get this response, remember my words and have your GP refer you to a sleep specialist. Be insistent.
Good luck on Monday.

[uwho]

spazsmo............i sent you a PM

[uwho]

last night, all was good:) whew:)))))

no episodes of anything....wonder why some nights it happens and others not? I'd like to know , man the mind fascinates me now! As much as it is amazingly freaky!

I am also finding conflicting information out there on the net, suppose that's why we have specialists .

[Dayleen]

My oldest son would cry out at night and i would run to his room and ask him what was the matter and he'd just either look at me and say nothing or cry out and freek me out. He did it for 2 years roughly and hasn't done it now for about 2..he's 14 now. I figured it was stress from moving here and all the changes that came with the move. I was worried he'd walk right out of the house though so we had an alarm installed so i would know if the door opened...it's very scary but i think they all grow out of it. See what could be causing stress in their lives...school, friends, a move...etc and try and talk to them a lot to help them work out anxiety.